Minnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest state in the U.S., with an area of 87,014 sq mi (225,365 km²). Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the 32nd state in 1858. Its population of over five million is primarily of northern European descent, with the principal minorities being Native Americans descended from the original inhabitants, Hispanics, African Americans, and recent immigrant communities of Somalis and Hmongs.

Sixty percent of those people live in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, the center of transport, business and industry, and home to an internationally-known arts community. The remainder of the state, often referred to as Greater Minnesota, consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture, eastern deciduous forests also heavily farmed and settled, and the less-populated northern boreal forest. The state is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes”, and those lakes and the other waters for which the state is named together with state and national forests and parks offer residents and tourists a vigorous outdoor lifestyle.

The extremes of the climate contrast with the moderation of Minnesota’s people. The state is known for its moderate-to-progressive politics and social policies and its civic involvement and voter turnout. It ranks among the healthiest states by a number of measures, and has one of the most highly-educated and literate populations.